The Future of Work: Trends That Will Impact Your Business and Career

Trends That Will Impact Your Business and Career
© 2018 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
The Future of Work

Only 53% of chief HR officers are
confident regarding the adequacy
of their organization’s efforts to
prepare for technological,
demographic and socioeconomic
disruptions to current business
models. Source: World Economic Forum
DID YOU KNOW …

Key trends impacting
the workplace today
A glimpse into the
future of work
Skills in demand for
creative professionals
Building creative
teams for the future
WHAT WE’LL COVER

THE RESEARCH
roberthalf.com/blog/the-future-of-
work/workplace-2025-insights-to-help-you-
build-your-future-tech-team

Pum Lefebure
Design Army
Ashleigh Axios
Automattic
Moira Cullen
method products, pbc.
Deepa Subramaniam
Wherewithall
Eddie Opara
Pentagram
THE EXPERTS

WAVES OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
1st wave: Emergence of the internet
2nd wave: Rise of mobile and social networks
3rd wave: IoT, physical and digital convergence
4th wave: AI and robotics
Data intelligence, man-machine collaboration
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s

TOMORROW IS … NOW
Which of the following technologies are being used today in your business?
Internet of things (IoT)
Adaptive security
Machine learning
Virtual reality (VR)
Augmented reality (AR)
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Blockchain
Bots

WHAT IF YOU COULD
SEE THE FUTURE?

TRENDS SHAPING THE WORKPLACE OF 2025
THE GIG ECONOMY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION:
A mutually beneficial relationship
The gig economy is growing
Non-employer firms (e.g.,
incorporated freelancers,
gig-economy workers) have
grown by 2.6% a year, while
payroll employment has
grown by only 0.8% annually.
More than 1 in 3 U.S. workers are
freelancers – and this figure is
expected to grow to 40% by 2020.

7 out of 10 creative teams are
understaffed.
37% of creative professionals expect
their team to rely more on freelancers
in the next three years.
FREELANCERS TO
THE RESCUE

Graphic and
web design
TOP AREAS CREATIVE TEAMS TURN TO FREELANCERS
Video
production and
photography
Production
design
Interactive/
multimedia design
UX research
and design

THE RISE OF THE
AGILE WORKFORCE

THE IMMERSIVE WORKPLACE:
A deeper digital experience and instant
access to information

CONVERGENCE OF DESIGN AND TECH
Concept
Customer experience journeys
Data analytics
Graphic and visual design
UX research and design
Video production
Business intelligence
and data analytics
Cloud computing
Cybersecurity
DevOps
Internet of things
Machine learning
App design and
development
Content management
systems
Marketing and business
process automation
Voice, AR, VR
Web/mobile products
CREATIVE IT

DIGITAL ADOPTION
Which of the following
best describes the
pace at which your
department adopts
new technology?
32% Poor
38% Fair
27% Good
4% Excellent
45% Slow and steady
44% Middle of the pack
11% Early adopter
How would you rate
your company’s efforts
to prepare employees
for the adoption of new
technology?

Pum Lefebure
Co-Founder and CCO
Design Army
I always tell my team that what we are doing right now
might not be relevant in six months or a year, so we must
keep learning. Change is part of a designer’s job. You
must keep looking forward and anticipating trends.
One thing that does not change is the need to understand
basic design principles. It doesn’t matter what type of
designer you are. You must understand the concepts of
scale, proportion, flow, alignment and more.
Designers can and should learn new skills and
experiment with technology. But they must also
understand art history and the language of design.

UPSKILL OR PERISH
of creative professionals think it will be
challenging to keep their skills up to date88%
said it will be
very challenging21%

TRAINING NEEDS
How would you rate the
quality of training
resources your company
provides to help you
develop your skills?
25% Poor
33% Fair
30% Good
11% Excellent

Web and
UX design
SKILLS CREATIVE PROS WANT TO LEARN
Content creation
and content
marketing
Data
visualization
Video production
User interface
design and web
development

Eddie Opara
Partner
Pentagram
Don’t say, ‘I’m just a web and UX designer.’ Or, ‘I’m just a
data visualization person.’ Or ‘I’m just a video production
person.’ You should tap into all those things, and be an
all-rounder.
Why don’t we look at ourselves like architects? They are
very knowledgeable about building processes. They know
a little bit about engineering. They have to explain their
concepts clearly to clients.
Creative professionals need to do these same things.

THE CREATIVE TEAM OF THE FUTURE
Core onsite employees
Remote employees
Consultants
Freelancers/gig workers
(who help on an as-needed basis)
External resources
(agencies, vendors, etc.)

Currently, about 29% of
creative team members
work remotely at least
part of the time.
WORKING REMOTELY: NOT ALWAYS SO EASY

WORKING REMOTELY: PROS AND CONS
Access to a broader talent pool
Increased employee morale
Increased productivity
Controlled environment
Cost/time savings
“Out of sight, out of mind” syndrome
Communication challenges
Diminished team camaraderie
PROS CONS

Freelancing and distributed teams are the future. Clarity
around roles and responsibilities is critical to project success
when you are working with an ever-changing cast of
characters, including remote workers.
Creative leaders need to take time to communicate
expectations, set up processes and tools for
documenting and sharing information, and make sure no
remote or internal worker feels isolated or siloed.
Most important, they must provide context for a project.
And freelancers and remote workers need to ask for that
context as well. It will only help them to be more effective at
what they do.
Deepa Subramaniam
Co-Founder
Wherewithall

FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS FAVORED (FOR NOW)
What is the most effective method for
communicating with your teammates?
49% In-person meetings
25% Team chat and instant messaging
17% Email
4% Phone calls
4% Video conferencing
1% Internal social network

71% of creative and
marketing pros say it’s
challenging to find
talent with up-to-date
digital skills.
DIGITAL CREATIVES: IN DEMAND, HARD TO FIND

COVETED CREATIVE SKILLS
AI and machine learning
Content creation and
content marketing
Data science, data
analysis and A/B testing
Digital strategy
Front-end web
development
Motion graphics
Search engine
optimization (SEO)
Search engine
marketing (SEM)
Social media
management
UX and UI design Video production

When it comes to AI and machine learning, designers can
show value by helping focus the technology on solving
challenges that require scalable, and not one-off,
solutions.
To prepare, designers should learn about the current
capabilities of the technology. And, to start, designers can
partner with experts in fields like data science, programming,
generative art and the communities the solutions will support
to explore, challenge and test potential solutions.
Ashleigh Axios
Design Exponent
Automattic

60% of creative professionals say
it’s at least somewhat likely that
they will look for a new job in the
next 12 months.
35% said it is very likely that they
will start looking.
CONFIDENCE IN JOB PROSPECTS RUNNING HIGH

HOW WILL
CREATIVE LEADERS
BUILD AND RETAIN
STRONG TEAMS?

BUILDING THE BEST CREATIVE TEAM
TIP #1
Ask: What skills
will we need?
TIP #2
Invest in
“infinite learners”
(and existing talent)
TIP #3
Stay on top
of change
TIP #4
Focus on becoming
a creative talent
magnet today

When hiring creative talent, you have to think, ‘Who can
bring extra dimension to my team? What is their ability to
communicate, collaborate, influence and show empathy?’
Design is a relational profession. What we produce is for the
human experience. And so, no matter how much we
automate, we still need to be in touch with human qualities …
the human soul.
At some point in the design process there needs to be a
human interface. How does what a machine makes get out
into the world? People have to formulate it, present it, and
galvanize other people around it.
Moira Cullen
VP, Global Creative Director
method products, pbc.

RESOURCES FOR CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS
Salary Center
creativegroup.com/salary-center
TCG Blog
blog.creativegroup.com

The Future of Work: Trends That Will Impact Your Business and Career

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The Future of Work: Trends That Will Impact Your Business and Career